We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cecil Stokes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Cecil, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
I did not grow up with generosity naturally in my heart. I remember taking spiritual gifts tests in college, and my mercy and generosity came back as a zero on a scale of one to 10. I truly believe generosity in me began to grow when I was named Godparent for my three Godchildren and then it grew exponentially as I became a dad 8 1/2 years ago. God truly just changes your heart when you become a parent, and the generosity of my heart has continued to grow and grow and grow. The other time in my life where I feel like it has grown is when I had a season without work, and truly learned a lot about humility and accepting love and support from others, and it taught me the beauty of generosity. Within the last year of my life, I have prayed for the Lord to show me His love for everyone I meet, and that creates infinite generosity of the heart, and hopefully we can all translate that into action.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have been in the entertainment industry for about 25 years and have been blessed to write, produce or direct over 500 TV episodes, three feature films, and hundreds of commercials. I love being a creative and being able to use the same skills on multiple different projects every day. I also created a nonprofit called “Boone and Me” when I adopted my son from foster care. I am a single dad, and the two of us travel around the country and speak to churches and organizations about adopting from foster care, or becoming foster parents. That has been a huge blessing to be able to share our family’s story. Becoming a dad eight years ago really opened my eyes to the plight we have in our country for vulnerable children and through our ministry I’ve also been blessed to write three children’s books that came out in 2022, 2023 and one just last month. I enjoy trying new things creatively!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Hope, tenacity, and loyalty are three of the top qualities that have helped me reach the success I have had in my career. When I first started in television, I interviewed for a job with a nice guy who told me they didn’t have any positions open but call him again in two weeks. I called every two weeks, we would have short discussions and at the end of the call he would say we still don’t have anything but call me again in two weeks. I called him 18 times in nine months and on that 18th call he said, “I don’t know what we’re gonna do with you, but show up Monday morning and we will create a job.” That tenacity of getting the first job in television has served me well throughout my entire career of focusing on a goal and not giving up until it is achieved. Also, in entertainment there is a lot of darkness, but I discovered early on to be loyal to those who I partner with or collaborate with. I’m a “dance with the one who brought you” kind of guy, so whether I’m having a good season or someone else I have worked with is having a good season, I try to lift both of us up and remain loyal to those who have helped me or networked for me and helped me get to where I am. Loyalty is not common nowadays, and it can really set you apart. Lastly, hope is what wakes me up every day and moves me forward regardless of life circumstances. It really is my fuel.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
This is probably going to be a really rare answer to the question of what impactful thing my parents did for me… Our family was very poor and lived in a trailer on a dirt road, and we had a lot of challenges in my childhood. When I was seven we had several traumatic events that my parents had to focus on completely, and I was really left to take care of myself. It taught me responsibility at a very young age and I believe also instilled in me the value of taking risks, especially when you are young, just starting out or don’t have a family to support. The major milestones in my career have all been based on a risk but it was followed by great reward. I hear my friends’ stories about pretty normal childhoods, but I don’t regret mine at all because it made me into the man that I am today. It created the heart of Hope, the tenacity that has led me in my career and the loyalty to those who stopped to actually see me and help me. When we are faced with challenges in our youth, or even in our adult hood, I think it is really our perspective, and how we choose to deal with the challenges that forge who we become. With some great connections and collaborations plus living my life for the Lord, I have gone from that red dirt road to the Red Carpet, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tentmakersentertainment.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booneandme_cecilstokes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCecilStokes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecil-stokes-907b948/
